Simultaneous ERP and event-related fMRI: focus on the time course of brain activity in target detection

The event-related P300 potential has been widely used in neurophysiological research. It is usually evoked with an oddball paradigm. One main reason for its broad application in neurophysiological research is the fact that in several brain/mental diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia, attenuations of the P300 amplitude and latency have been described. However, a precise correlation of the scalp data to the underlying brain regions was not possible, as the correct localization of the generators of scalp-measured electroencephalogram (EEG) data was limited, due to the low spatial resolution of EEG-data. With the availability of modern imaging technologies, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in particular, the underlying brain activations could be detected using an oddball task. Although the spatial resolution of fMRI is excellent, the time resolution is restricted. For a comprehensive understanding of the brain activity underlying the P300 paradigm, we have used a combination of EEG and fMRI to get a precise localization and a high-time resolution of the underlying brain activity.